The Global Reign of the King of Pop

So for anyone that knows me, you know that one of my favorite (if not number one favorite) music genres is 80s, so it should come as no surprise that I'm really bummed out about the death of Michael Jackson. All jokes and such aside about what he had become, he was a true entertainer and revolutionary in the music world. But enough on that.

If you somehow still thought that being in Santiago meant being worlds away from civilization, think again. And Michael Jackson's death is a great example not only of how well connected I am here to what's happening in the world, but also to how global of audience he managed to reach.

How I heard: Thursday night I finished my Ethnolinguistics test, walked into the hallway and was greeted with the news by 2 of my classmates. Now my head was already spinning because it was 7:30 pm and that was no easy exam, so when they told me I didn't quite believe it and it took until I arrived back to my apartment to actually wrap my head around it. Once I did get back, it's the first thing both my host mom and sister said to me.

How I would have figured it out anyway: This whole weekend, he/his music have been everywhere, as I'm sure is the case back in the US. MTV, Vh1, and E! have been playing tributes all weekend long, ditto local radio stations here, and even the news and music on the Metro has been MJ themed.

How I know people here care: In addition to the daytime media coverage, the nightlife has also been all about the music of Michael Jackson. Friday night, we went to a new club as part of an end-of-the-semester evening, and the electronica/remixes and reggaeton music returned multiple times to a Beat It/Billie Jean/Don't Stop Til You Get Enough sequence. Then last night we hit up a nice salsateca (club specifically for salsa dancing) and about 2 am they jumped from salsa into Thriller and Black or White, followed by Madonna and some reggaeton before moving back into salsa.

So from South America and the rest of the global community, descanse en paz Michael Jackson. Le echarémos de menos.

My proudest accomplishments

thus far. And as a cumulation of my time here, which is nearing the end(!!!!)

- 2 weeks ago for my public speaking/acting class, I did a standup comedy routine. 2 and a half minutes. All in Spanish. In front of all Chileans. And it was a hit! I was a little nervous going into it, but everyone in that class is super nice and supportive, they laughed, and I'm (99%) sure they actually found me funny.

- Last week I handed in a 16 page paper/report for Ethnolinguistics, which would be pretty hardcore even in English, so I felt real proud handing it in to my professor in Spanish the other day. If you're curious, I wrote about the blog Feministing, justifying it as a cultural community and subject of an ethnographic study (part one), and then analyzed the comments according to speech act theory and different types of illocutionary force (part two).

- During our trip to Buenos Aires this weekend, while waiting outside a fruit stand, a lady pulled up in her car and asked me if I knew where a certain street was, and I DID. And I told her and she understood me and presumably got there safe and sound. So not only a testament to my Spanish skills, but my ability to orient myself and function in a new, big city too.

And now I will proceed to pat myself on the back ...

Nature-y Pictures

San Pedro de Atacama: the driest desert in the world, in northern Chile

Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon), named for its moon-like terrain

Hangin' in a cave (literally)

Laura and I looking out over the Valle at sunset

Beautiful colors (and not just my hat)

Howling at the moon

Visiting the village of Toconao including its llama residents

Flamingos on the Salar (Salt Flat) of Atacama

Sandboarding! Think snowboarding ... but on sand dunes

Back in Santiago - right outside the city in Cajón de Maipo

Overall scenery, including 1 of 3 sweet bridges

¡Mis amigos!

Quite the change for a city girl, eh?

Yo sé, yo sé

Y lo siento! Ha sido mucho tiempo hace que escribí una entrada nueva. Bueno, tiene que ver en parte con el hecho de que no estoy teniendo muchas experiencias nuevas - voy a clase, estudio, voy al colegio para enseñar, y carreteo con mis amigos y duermo los fines de semana. El otro lado de esto es que también estaba bastante ocupada con la tarea de mis clases. Siempre tengo mucho que hacer para mi clase de dibujo, pero recientemente tuve un gran proyecto en mi clase de etnolinguística, y varios discursos para mi clase de comunicación/discurso público.

Sin embargo, sí tengo algunas cosas para compartir, especialmente mis últimas fotos, y también varias experiencias interesantes tomando la micro. ¡Les prometo que las voy a poner acá!

Finalmente, una cosa y razón por no escribir es que la semana pasada estaba resfriada. No era muy mal pero falté una clase y algun trabajo voluntario por tener la nariz congestionada, un dolor de cabeza, y mucho sueño. Fortunamente no tenía fiebre entonces sabíamos que NO ERA gripe porcina (que sí ha llegada con bastante fuerza a Chile). Entonces fui a la farmacia y compré un remedio, lo tomaba y descansaba mucho, y ¡ahora estoy completemente mejor!